Korean Peninsula On The Brink Of War

[American Patriot]

http://thefederalistpapers.org/us/no...tm_campaign=LC

You are here: Home / US / North Korea Missile Testing Set to Escalate

North Korea Missile Testing Set to Escalate

April 17, 2017 By C.E. Dyer 3 Comments

North Korean aggression continues to escalate, and now it has been reported that the country plans to test missiles every week despite calls from the United States and others to halt.
North Korea confirms increased testing. Vice Foreign Minister Han Song-Ryol told the BBC’s John Sudworth that the testing schedule is ramping up. “We’ll be conducting more missile tests on a weekly, monthly and yearly basis,” the vice foreign minister said.
More threats from the rogue nation. If the U.S. takes military action, Han Song-Ryol claimed that an “all out war” would result.
“If the US is reckless enough to use military means it would mean from that very day, an all out war,” he said.
BBC reported: “Vice Foreign Minister Hang Song-Ryol told the BBC that North Korea believed its nuclear weapons ‘protect’ it from the threat of US military action.”
As North Korea brutally oppresses its people, the regime of course paints the United States as the aggressor in the ongoing tensions.




Pence responds. Vice President Mike Pence made it clear that the United States has ended the Obama-era policy of strategic patience with North Korea, in comments made Monday in South Korea alongside acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn.
“Just in the past two weeks, the world witnessed the strength and resolve of our new president in actions taken in Syria and Afghanistan,” Pence said.
“North Korea would do well not to test his resolve or the strength of the armed forces of the United States in this region.”
He also made it clear that the United States supports South Korea: “We are with you 100%.”
The world responds. The BBC reported:

China has reiterated its call for North Korea to stop all tests, and has also called for a peaceful solution.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told reporters in Beijing on Monday that the Korean peninsula was “highly sensitive, complicated and high risk” and that all sides should “avoid taking provocative actions that pour oil on the fire”.




On Sunday, Lt Gen HR McMaster, the US top security adviser, said his country was working on a “range of options” with China, the first confirmation the two countries were co-operating to find a solution to the North Korean issue.
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow would not tolerate “missile adventures by Pyongyang” but a unilateral use of power by the US would be “a very risky course”.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday told a parliamentary session that diplomatic efforts were “important to maintain peace”, but “dialogue for the sake of having dialogue is meaningless”.
He added that Japan needed to apply pressure on Pyongyang to “seriously respond to a dialogue” with the international community.

What does this mean? Right now, it’s unclear how this will all play out. Will the rest of the world continue to join the United States in checking the aggression of North Korea, which clearly poses a major threat to numerous countries in its goal to be able to equip an intercontinental ballistic missile with a nuclear warhead that can hit anywhere on the globe?
Will North Korea back down or will they lash out if they feel their repressive regime is being backed into a corner?
Time will tell, of course, but in the meantime it’s clear that this is a dangerous situation.

[American Patriot]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...-missile-tests

US military considers shooting down North Korea missile tests, sources say


As Pentagon looks for strategies to pressure North Korea into denuclearization, US officials worry that intercepting missiles could escalate tensions and risk war

The USS Carl Vinson carrier strike group, which includes Aegis-equipped destroyers, is headed for the Korean peninsula in anticipation of North Korea’s sixth nuclear test. Photograph: US Department of Defense/EPA

Spencer Ackerman in New York and Justin McCurry in Tokyo
Tuesday 18 April 2017 09.58 EDTLast modified on Tuesday 18 April 201710.30 EDT

The US military is considering shooting down North Korean missile tests as a show of strength to Pyongyang, two sources briefed on the planning told the Guardian.


As tensions over North Korea’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles threaten confrontation in north-east Asia, the Pentagon is looking for ways short of war to pressure North Korea into denuclearization, particularly if Pyongyang goes forward with an anticipated sixth nuclear test.

North Korea warns 'thermonuclear war may break out at any moment'The option, which defense secretary James Mattis has briefed to Congress, has yet to mature into a decision by the military to intercept a tested missile.

One US official said the prospective shoot-down strategy would be aimed at occurring after a nuclear test, with the objective being to signal Pyongyang that the US can impose military consequences for a transgression Donald Trump has said is unacceptable.
But experts and former officials said shooting down a North Korean missile during a test risks an escalation that Washington may not be able to control, one that risks war on the Korean peninsula and potentially devastating consequences to allies South Korea and Japan.
“I would see such an action as escalatory, but I couldn’t guess how Kim Jong-un would interpret it,” said Abraham Denmark, the senior Pentagon policy official for Asia in Barack Obama’s administration.


“But I would be concerned he would feel the need to react strongly, as he would not want to appear weak.”


Both sources said the military was not looking to use the high-profile missile-defense system the US is providing to South Korea, the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (Thaad). Thaad’s 200km range and sophisticated radar have unnerved China, whose president, Xi Jinping, has been coaxed by Trump into pressuring North Korea.


Additionally, an operational Thaad installation is unlikely before 9 May, when South Koreans vote for a new president.


Instead, both sources said the military was looking at attempting a missile shoot-down with an Aegis missile-defense system aboard a US navy destroyer; or by convincing Japan to use its own missile-defense capabilities against a ballistic missile test traversing Japanese waters.


The USS Carl Vinson carrier strike group, which includes Aegis-equipped destroyers, is headed for the Korean peninsula.
In the past, several US administrations have considered shooting down North Korean missile tests, only to turn away from the option when considering the consequences of escalation against an unpredictable and bellicose adversary. Rumors have circulated since Trump took office that he has been mulling a shoot-down.

Nuclear war has become thinkable again – we need a reminder of what it means

A US official said the military was discussing a potential shoot-down ahead of Trump’s meeting with Xi on 6 April at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. The discussion also preceded Friday’s North Korean military parade, during which Pyongyang displayed advancements in its intercontinental ballistic missile program and anti-ship missiles, as well as a test-launch failure on Saturday.


Senior Pentagon officials pondering the shoot-down option are said to have conceded they are unsure how North Korea would respond.

Neither Pentagon nor US Pacific Command representatives responded to a request for comment.


Another factor complicating a shoot-down would be the risk of embarrassment should Aegis interceptors miss a North Korean target, which might embolden Pyongyang and unnerve US regional allies.


Patrick Cronin, senior director of the Asia-Pacific Security Program at the Center for a New American Security, agreed that failure to bring down a missile would give North Korea a “psychological advantage”.


Cronin said the US was “far more likely to try to jam a missile test to ensure it does not fly far from the peninsula”.


US military officials are said to have been deeply disturbed after being taken by surprise at a North Korean missile launch in February. The commander in charge of US nuclear weapons, Air Force general John Hyten, recently told the Senate that the 11 February test was staged “out of a place we’d never seen before”.


North Korea’s advancements in solid-fuel rockets, mobile launch vehicles built for the north’s unpaved roads and cloud cover which frustrates satellite surveillance are causing US planners to fear that they may have little time to detect the next wave of North Korean missiles.

Ken Gause, director of the international-affairs group at the CNA thinktank influential with the Pentagon, said US planners have grown frustrated with coercive diplomacy amid North Korea’s maturing nuclear and missile capability. But Gause said that while Washington might spin a shoot-down as a step below an attack on North Korea or an attempt to overthrow its government, it risked validating Kim’s position that North Korea needs nuclear weapons and long-range missiles to respond to American aggression.

“I still see this as escalatory and playing with potential fire. At the end of the day, Kim Jong-un cannot be seen internally as backing down from pressure”, Gause said.


Robert Kelly, an associate professor at South Korea’s Pusan National University, said: “North Korea is banned from testing missiles by the UN, so in that sense we should be shooting all of them down. But instead the world has turned a blind eye. I don’t think it would be a bad idea to shoot down a test missile, as an attack on North Korea itself would be too provocative.”


The US vice-president, Mike Pence, is on a trip to north-east Asia focused on North Korea and has warned Pyongyang against testing Trump’s “resolve”, declaring an end to Obama’s “strategic patience” policy. North Korea’s deputy UN ambassador in turn warned on Monday that “a thermonuclear war may break out at any minute”.

[American Patriot]

http://news.nationalpost.com/news/wo...rmonuclear-war

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/0...clinton-237324

http://www.vox.com/world/2017/4/18/1...emptive-strike (Vox, whatever)

http://www.smh.com.au/world/china-pr...18-gvn0ex.html

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/t...orea-5fx2zptnn

[American Patriot]

Trump orders review of US nuclear posture amid North Korea tensions

Tue Apr 18, 2017 8:50AM

1. Home
2. US
3. Military

US President Donald Trump speaks to members of the US Navy and shipyard workers on board the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier in Newport News, Virginia, March 2, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

US President Donald Trump has ordered the Pentagon to review the country’s nuclear posture amid an ongoing standoff with North Korea over its development of nuclear weapons.
Under the president’s direction, Defense Secretary James Mattis is tasked with ensuring that Washington’s nuclear arsenal is “safe, secure, effective, reliable and appropriately tailored to deter 21st-century threats and reassure our allies,” Pentagon chief spokesperson Dana White said in a statement on Monday.
“Secretary Mattis directed the commencement of the review, which will be led by the deputy secretary of defense and the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and include inter-agency partners. The process will culminate in a final report to the president by the end of the year,” the statement added.
According to reports, Washington is currently keeping some 450 long-range nuclear missiles in underground silos across the US, in addition to an undisclosed number deployed to its military bases in Europe.
The US military can also use its fleet of ballistic missile submarines and long-range strategic bombers such as B-2 and B-52 to deploy its arsenal of more than 7,000 nuclear warheads to any target around the world.
Meanwhile, the US Air Force confirmed last week that it had test-dropped an upgraded gravity nuclear bomb to see whether its lighter fighter jets can carry the deadly weapon.
Trump has made it clear that he would expand America’s nuclear arsenal to ensure it is at the “top of the pack.”

North Korean ballistic missiles are being displayed through Kim Il-Sung square during a military parade in Pyongyang marking the 105th anniversary of the birth of late North Korean leader Kim Il-Sung, April 15, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

Trump’s order comes amid a heated war of words between the US and North Korea over an imminent nuclear confrontation.
On Monday, US Vice President Mike Pence paid a visit to South Korea’s border with the North and warned that Washington’s era of patience with Pyongyang was over.
The US has also urged China, North Korea’s main trading partner, to help resolve the situation.
Trump told Chinese President Xi Jinping during their summit in Florida earlier this month that the US would “act alone” if China fails to help end the North’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
Washington has even sent an aircraft carrier-led strike group to the western Pacific Ocean close to the Korean Peninsula.
Pyongyang has threatened the US with “all-out war” in response, asserting that it will continue to test missiles on a weekly basis now.

[vector7]

North Korean commandos ready to kidnap Americans, says defector

By Rebecca Kesten

Published April 17, 2017
FoxNews.com


Hucabee: Kim Jong Un must be taken seriously

North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un has a diabolical plan in case tensions with the U.S. continue to escalate, according to a defector.

Ung-gil Lee, a former clandestine special operator who escaped the Hermit Kingdom, told The Mail on Sunday that if the United States attacks the isolated nation, “diplomats, tourists and foreign businessmen” in South Korea will be at risk. Lee said his his former unit is trained and prepared to retaliate by kidnapping foreigners from South Korea, bringing them to the North and ultimately killing them.

The defector said that as part of the 11th Storm Corps, he stole across the border into South Korea unnoticed, carrying both traditional weapons and nerve agents in what he called “suicide missions” to capture foreigners. He said that the 11^th Storm Corps is only one of several units, ready to act, in the event of an attack by the U.S.

Michael Malice, author of "Dear Reader: The Unauthorized Autobiography of Kim Jong Il," told Fox News that the report seems to be in line with what is known about the mysterious regime.

“North Korea has been kidnapping people for literally decades for various reasons,” he said. “They've also repeatedly send people to the south to assassinate various people.”

Surprisingly, North Korea has admitted to kidnapping a dozen Japanese citizens. In an uncharacteristic apology, then-supreme leader Kim Jong Il in 2002 blamed his special forces for getting “carried away by a reckless quest for glory” in the abduction of those taken in the 1970s and 1980s, including a 13-year-old girl on her way back from badminton, a cook, a recently engaged couple enjoying dinner by the beach and a club hostess.

The repressive nation claimed that eight out of the twelve had already died. Human Rights Watch reports that additionally, “the North Korean government has also kidnapped individuals from China, Thailand, Europe, and the Middle East.”

Notably, a famous South Korean film couple, a movie-star wife and director husband, were kidnapped from Hong Kong in 1977 and taken to North Korea in an effort to help build the film industry. Choi Eun-hee and Shin Sang-ok were held captive for eight years before they were able to escape and tell their story.

There has not been a confirmed case of an American kidnapped by North Korea, however detained U.S. citizens are known to be used for political leverage by Kim Jong Un’s regime. Visiting North Korea is not illegal for Americans, but it is discouraged by the State Department.

The family of BYU student, David Sneddon, is still looking for answers after he disappeared in 2004. Last year, unconfirmed allegations emerged that he was kidnapped by North Korea from China, where he was studying.

North Korea is currently holding prisoner American student Otto Warmbier, sentenced to 15 years hard labor for stealing a propaganda poster from his hotel in Pyongyang during an organized trip to the country in 2016. At the time, the Obama administration announced sanctions against North Korea. Warmbier apologized for what was called an “act of hostility against the state,” however he remains a prisoner and little is known of his conditions.

Shortly after Warmbier’s sentencing, another American citizen was reportedly convicted of spying in North Korea, punished with the same 15-year sentence. North Korea touted the capture of 63-year-old Kim Dong Chul, a South Korean-born naturalized U.S. citizen, by releasing his American passport and parading him out in a state-sponsored news conference.

Korean-American pastor Kenneth Bae was held in North Korea for 19 months, enduring hard labor for the crime of evangelizing. He was released in 2014, thanks in large part to former NBA star Dennis Rodman and the friendship he formed with the North Korean dictator.

Malice told Fox News that North Korea refers to Americans as “U.S. imperialists” and the people of the North consider South Korea to be their territory, occupied by the U.S.

He explained that North Korea “goes after defectors as a means of revenge,” making those they see as traitors the most obvious targets of kidnapping.

However, all that could change if the U.S. takes military action against North Korea.

“We are the theoretical enemies,” said Malice, “but if we move, we will be the enemy in practice, and they will absolutely go after us.”


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Mil Radar‏@MIL_Radar 11m11 minutes ago17 APR: USAF F-22s scrambled from Elmendorf AFB to intercept 2x RUAF Tu-95 100 miles off the coast of Kodiak Island, Alaska

NorthKoreaRealTime‏@BuckTurgidson79 25m25 minutes ago
North Korea apparently short on supplies http://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/article/Article.aspx?aid=3032379…


Already Happened‏ @M3t4_tr0n 45m
Eyewitnesses from Shenyang
reporting mil. movement heading to Dandong
close to North Korea ("many medical vehicles")
https://already-happened.com/2017/04...r-def-systems/ …




Already Happened‏ @M3t4_tr0n 15m
Report also said that China is building temporary hospitals
around Dandong area
https://already-happened.com/2017/04...r-def-systems/ …

[vector7]

Hawaiians Anxiously Revisiting Civil Emergency Plans For Possible Nuclear Attack on the Island

By Malia Zimmerman
·Published April 17, 2017
· FoxNews.com

As tensions with North Korea mount, Hawaii lawmakers anxiously are dusting off the state’s emergency plans in preparation for the possibility – however remote – of an attack on the islands.

The plans were last revisited in the 1980s. But the Hawaii House Public Safety Committee on Thursday formally called for the state’s defense agency to repair their hundreds of Cold War-era fallout shelters and restock them with medical supplies, food and water.

"They haven't been updated since 1985," Rep. Matt LoPresti, a Democrat who serves as vice chair of that committee, told Hawaii News Now. “I was 11 years old when they were last updated. Many of the buildings that are on the fallout shelter list don't exist anymore.”

While the bellicose threats and displays of weapons capability in Pyongyang are playing out on the other side of the world for most Americans, Hawaii residents – some old enough to remember the last time their home was at the frontlines – see the dispute much differently. Honolulu is roughly 4,600 miles from the North Korean capital of Pyongyang.

A North Korean missile launched Sunday to showcase the country's nuclear and missile capabilities in honor of the birthday of its late founder failed just seconds after launch.

However, satellite images show a sixth nuclear test has been primed. And experts have said North Korea possesses, or could soon have, the capability to launch intercontinental ballistic missiles or nuclear warheads at Hawaii.

A long-range missile launched from North Korea could reach Hawaii or Alaska, said Dean Cheng, senior research fellow with the Asian Studies Center at the conservative Heritage Foundation. Hawaii is possibly a more desirable target, Cheng said, since the state has 11 military bases, including Pearl Harbor, and is the headquarters for the United States Pacific Command (USPACOM) at Camp Smith.

Cheng warned that since North Korea likely has an imprecise system, missiles launched at Pearl Harbor could actually hit downtown Honolulu or other areas of Oahu.

The impact of a missile hitting the island chain would be horrific, Cheng said. Burn cases would flood the hospitals. The state would need a plan to treat people out of the urban Honolulu center, he said, particularly if Honolulu were hit directly.

While preparing the state for such an attack will take time, Cheng said the state must begin.

“This is a long-term issue that is not going to go away,” Cheng said.

Should North Korea initiate an attack, the state would have just 20 minutes to prepare, said Toby Clairmont, executive officer of the department’s Hawaii Emergency Management Agency. He told lawmakers it could take seven years, however, to prepare the state for such an emergency and ensure adequate facilities for the state’s 1.42 million residents, including its substantial homeless population, as well as millions of visitors.

Because the vast majority of Hawaii’s food supply and other goods are brought in via Jones Act-approved cargo ships to Honolulu Harbor, lawmakers also called for the state to prepare alternative sites for food and supplies to be delivered should the harbor be destroyed.

LoPresti told Hawaii News Now he's not trying to spread fear, but he wants the public to know the government is taking steps to protect them in the worst-case scenario.

The resolution, which passed the committee unanimously, requires further House and Senate approvals.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017...ack-plans.html



America Remains Unprepared At The Most Dangerous Point in History As Hawaii Nuke Prep Proposal Is Too Little, Too Late




By Susan Duclos - All News PipeLine

With the huge news that the Hawaii House Public Safety Committee unanimously passed a resolution aimed at getting state funding to re-equip Cold War-era fallout shelters in response to the threat of nuclear attack coming from North Korea, where Hawaii would be the most likely to be first hit, it is possibly a case of doing too little, too late.

Considering the time it takes to get these types of proposals passed through the appropriate channels, then to update their response plan that hasn't been updated since 1985, as well as work to re-equip the hundreds of fallout shelters already in existence, if the proposal even makes it far enough to be approved by the finance committee, it is quite possible given North Korea's aggression and threats, that Hawaiians will not be prepared in time for a worst case scenario.

With that said, at least the Hawaiian lawmakers that passed this proposal are aware of the threat and taking it seriously, which is more than can be said for the rest of the American states.

THE MOST DANGEROUS POINT IN HISTORY AND WE ARE A NATION UNPREPARED

With tensions high between Russia and The U.S., as well as China's allying itself with Russia, in conjunction to the threat posed not to just Hawaii via a nuclear strike by North Korea, but to the country as a whole by way of an EMP attack, where our nations power grids are exceptionally vulnerable, as we have been warned time and again by experts, that a hit against us could ultimately wipe out 9 out of 10 Americans, it is astounding that other states and the government, are not actively making preparations to protect their citizenry.

In the Cold War-era, President Kennedy endorsed the construction of fall-out shelters when it became apparent that there was a likelihood of a nuclear war, and by 1962, knowing that evacuation was unrealistic, began putting heavy emphasis on public shelters, but by the mid-60s amidst arms-control talks and a limited nuclear test ban, plans for more shelters were scrapped and many of the existing shelters were converted for other purposes, while some simply became Cold-War relics.

The point being, back then, when the danger seemed imminent, the U.S. government and states actively worked to provide shelter to their people, to protect them, encouraged them to stock up on , food, water, medical basics even in their own basements, yet now, when technology has expanded into even more dangerous weapons, with countries such as North Korea and Iran actively creating nuclear materials and weapons, actors that will not be hindered by MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) as Russia and the U.S. were, no state other than Hawaii at the moment is doing anything to protect their people.



RUSSIA HAS NEVER STOPPED PREPARING FOR NUCLEAR WAR

Compare America's lack of preparation to the fact that Russians have never stopped preparing for nuclear war, with a massive underground facility at Yamantau mountain, as well as building underground nuclear command bunkers to withstand atomic blasts, and thousands of nuclear bomb shelters for their populace. Then in 2016, Russia also conducted civil-defense exercises all across the country with 40 million people participating.

With heightened tensions between nuclear powers such as the U.S and Russia, direct threats of a nuclear strike by North Korea warning that "nuclear war could break out at any moment, and vowing "weekly" missile tests, dire warnings of EMP and grid vulnerabilities by experts in that field, Iran marching towards the creation of their own nuclear weapons that to the "deal" Obama made with them, we are at the most dangerous point in history, and yet Hawaii lawmakers are the only ones even attempting to prepare.

BOTTOM LINE

While millions of Americans have become "preppers" over the last decade, many Americans go on about their day-to-day lives without even the most basic of preparations for something as simple as a major winter storm, where "panic shoppers" strip store shelves at the last moment, most of them buying items that wouldn't even last a full week if they were without electricity. Much of the blame lays squarely at the feet of state and federal officials, as well the mainstream media that report of "events" yet downplay the need for some serious discussions on why we all should be preparing for a world changing event, which a world war would surely be.

Why are state lawmakers across the U.S. not preparing to protect their citizens in the event of a nuclear strike or an EMP? Why are the intelliegence communities not encouraging the President to at least update, restore and/or build more bomb and fall-out shelters for the nations populace? Why are the mainstream media outlets not reporting the scope of the dangers facing us and treating each case as an individual problem, rather than looking at the whole and showing the entire picture?

Many would argue that the lawmakers, the federal government and the media doesn't wish to create a panic, but a look at history shows us, that Americans, when informed, take actions themselves, as they built their own shelters in their back yards back in the 1960s, filled their own basements and shelters with supplies to survive, and more, rather than panicking.

It is unacceptable that Russia is preparing to protect their citizens and the U.S. is not even offering Americans the truth of the dangers that face us, nor are they taking any actions to protect us.

[vector7]

What military strike? US war fleet still thousands of kilometres from North Korea

Strike group led by aircraft carrier Carl Vinson was last seen off Indonesia, reducing fears of an imminent US attack

PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 18 April, 2017, 1:55pm
UPDATED : Wednesday, 19 April, 2017, 6:29am

Comments: 71

18 Apr 2017

A US strike group headed by the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson was still thousandsof kilometres from the Korean peninsula only days ago, easing concerns that a*military strike might be imminent against North Korea.

An image from the US military dated last Saturday showed the carrier on a “scheduled deployment” in the Sunda Strait off *Indonesia, which is 5,600km from the Korean peninsula.



But tensions surrounding North Korea remained, with its vice-foreign minister, Han Song-ryol, saying that Pyongyang would conduct missile tests on a weekly basis.

“If the US is reckless enough to use military means it would mean, from that very day, an all-out war,” he told the BBC.

US Vice-President Mike Pence said in a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that Washington and Tokyo had agreed to press China to use its “extraordinary levers” to pressure Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear programme.

North Korea tested a ballistic missile on Sunday. Even though the missile exploded soon after its launch, the act was seen as a *defiant move.

North Korea claims ‘nuclear war could break out at any time’ after Pence says US ‘strategic patience’ has expired

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Tuesday that the crisis should be resolved by talks. US officials have said that a military strike was an option.

The US and South Korea on Monday began a military exercise designed to “test aerial combat capability”. Some 1,000 US personnel had teamed up with the South Korean Air Force to ensure they were ready to combat “the North’s provocations”, the US Pacific Command said yesterday.
US Navy officials in Pearl Harbour and Washington declined to comment on the Carl Vinson’s movements, other than to confirm the passage last Saturday through the Sunda Strait, the Navy Times *reported.

Why Kim Jong-un’s warnings of nuclear war will fail to impress US and South Korea

Military analysts said the Pentagon’s lack of clarity on the carrier deployment was adding to tensions on the Korean peninsula.

“It’s a costless tactic that can scare North Korean leader Kim Jong-un,” Zhou Chenming, from the Knowfar Institute for Strategic and Defence Studies, said.

Beijing-based naval analyst Li Jing said “such a tactic is very much Trump’s style”.

“But I don’t think it’s a good way to handle the nuclear crisis on the Korean peninsula because Kim will not compromise under threats. He wants to get some promises from the US, China and Russia to secure his regime.”

Macau-based military observer Antony Wong Dong said he believed Beijing knew where the Carl Vinson was, but had kept quiet about it.
Additional reporting by Reuters and Associated Press



This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as:
U.S. carrier still an ocean away from North Korea

[vector7]

North Korea Threatens US With "Super-Mighty Preemptive Strike"

by Tyler Durden
Apr 20, 2017 7:18 AM




Whether China is right about North Korea conducting a nuclear test on April 25 remains to be seen, but for now Kim Jong-Un is content with merely escalating the verbal warfare and overnight North Korean state media warned the United States of a "super-mighty preemptive strike" following the latest round of comments by Rex Tillerson who said the United States was looking at ways to bring pressure to bear on North Korea over its nuclear programme.

The Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the North's ruling Workers' Party, did not mince its words: "In the case of our super-mighty preemptive strike being launched, it will completely and immediately wipe out not only U.S. imperialists' invasion forces in South Korea and its surrounding areas but the U.S. mainland and reduce them to ashes" it said according to Reuters.

The threat will hardly come as a surprise: the reclusive communist nation regularly threatens to destroy Japan, South Korea and the United States "and has shown no let-up in its belligerence after a failed missile test on Sunday, a day after putting on a huge display of missiles at a parade in Pyongyang."

The comments come in response to Tillerson statement in Washington on Wednesday when he told reporters that "we're reviewing all the status of North Korea, both in terms of state sponsorship of terrorism as well as the other ways in which we can bring pressure on the regime in Pyongyang to re-engage with us, but re-engage with us on a different footing than past talks have been held,"

Furthermore, Paul Ryan said during a visit to London the military option must be part of the pressure brought to bear. "Allowing this dictator to have that kind of power is not something that civilised nations can allow to happen," he said in reference to Kim. Ryan said he was encouraged by the results of efforts to work with China to reduce tension, but that it was unacceptable North Korea might be able to strike allies with nuclear weapons.

Meanwhile, the US and Russia clashed at the United Nations on Wednesday over a U.S.-drafted Security Council statement - which has to be agreed by all participants in the 15-member council - to condemn North Korea's latest failed ballistic missile test. Curiously, diplomats said China had agreed to the statement.

Previous statements denouncing missile launches "welcomed efforts by council members, as well as other states, to facilitate a peaceful and comprehensive solution through dialogue". The latest draft statement dropped "through dialogue" and Russia requested it be included again.

"When we requested to restore the agreed language that was of political importance and expressed commitment to continue to work on the draft ... the U.S. delegation without providing any explanations cancelled the work on the draft," the Russian U.N. mission said in a statement.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said China believed in the Security Council maintaining unity. "Speaking with one voice is extremely important to the Security Council appropriately responding to the relevant issue on the peninsula," he told reporters.

With North Korean tensions lingering, there remains some confusion over the whereabouts of a U.S. aircraft carrier group after Trump said last week he had sent an "armada" as a warning to North Korea, even as the ships were still far from Korean waters. The U.S. military's Pacific Command explained that the USS Carl Vinson strike group first had to complete a shorter-than-planned period of training with Australia. It was now heading for the Western Pacific as ordered, it said.

The incident has also become a source of mockery for China, whose influential Global Times newspaper, which is published by the People's Daily, wondered whether the misdirection was deliberate.

"The truth seems to be that the U.S. military and president jointly created fake news and it is without doubt a rare scandal in U.S. history, which will be bound to cripple Trump's and U.S. dignity," it said.



http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-0...emptive-strike

[Ryan Ruck]

US Official: With Eye On North Korea, China Puts Bombers On 'High Alert'

April 20, 2017

Chinese air force land-attack, cruise-missile-capable bombers were put "on high alert" on Wednesday as the US sees evidence that the Chinese military is preparing to respond to a potential situation in North Korea, a US defense official tells CNN.

The official said the US has also seen an extraordinary number of Chinese military aircraft being brought up to full readiness through intensified maintenance.
These recent steps by the Chinese are assessed as part of an effort to "reduce the time to react to a North Korea contingency," the official said.

Such a contingency could include the risk of an armed conflict breaking out as tensions on the peninsula have increased in the wake of multiple North Korean missile tests. The US and Pyongyang have ratcheted up their rhetoric, with the latter's state media warning Thursday that a pre-emptive strike by North Korea would result in the US and South Korea being "completely destroyed in an instant."

Beijing has long been concerned about potential instability in North Korea should the regime in Pyongyang collapse, fearing both an influx of refugees and the potential of reunification under a South Korean government closely allied to the US.

China is also opposed to the US military's presence in South Korea, protesting the recent US and South Korea decision to begin deploying elements of the THAAD missile defense system.

Given the close economic links between North Korea and China, US military officials have said that Beijing is critical to solving the North Korean situation, with President Donald Trump recently commending Chinese President Xi Jinping for Chinese efforts to curb Pyongyang's activities.

Several senior administration officials told CNN Thursday that China is now the focus of the Trump administration's North Korea strategy.

"Nobody thinks the Chinese are going to press North Korea militarily or bring the regime to its knees, but the strategy looks to China to find a political solution more than anything else," one senior administration official said.

The officials said Trump's approach is based on a careful review of past US efforts to deal with North Korea, noting that during the analysis of failed negotiating efforts with the long-reigning Kim family, one thing became abundantly clear: "China has never exerted maximum leverage on the Kim regime."

It's estimated that some 85% of North Korea's economic trade is dependent on China. Given those close economic links, US military officials have said that Beijing is critical to solving the North Korean situation.

And China appeared to reciprocate Wednesday, with Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang saying Beijing was "gravely concerned" about North Korea's recent nuclear and missile activities while simultaneously praising Washington's approach to the issue.

"American officials did make some positive and constructive remarks ... such as using whatever peaceful means possible to resolve the (Korean) Peninsula nuclear issue. This represents a general direction that we believe is correct and should be adhered to," Lu said.

But one senior administration official cautioned that the China-centric strategy was still in an early stage, and that "there are many more stages to go."

[Ryan Ruck]

This is Yahoo News but, I'm not sure how credible their source media is.

Russia Sends Troops To North Korea Border As Tensions Escalate

April 20, 2017

Russian president Vladimir Putin has reportedly ordered troops and weapons to be sent to the country’s border with North Korea as tensions continue to escalate.

Unverified video footage appears to show a train, believed to be one of three, loaded with military equipment and headed towards the 11-mile border between Russia and the secretive hermit state.

Another video appears to show military helicopters moving towards the Russian border as well as army combat vehicles moving across rugged terrain.



A report from primemedia.RU claims: ‘Railway trains loaded with military equipment moving towards Primorsky region via Khabarovsk have been noticed by locals.

A military official added: ‘The movement of military equipment by different means of transport to southern areas is being observed across Primorsky region over the past week.’

The movement comes only a day after Russia and the US clashed at the UN over a UN security council statement, drafted by the US, which condemned North Korea’s latest failed test.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said: ‘We’re reviewing all the status of North Korea, both in terms of state sponsorship of terrorism as well as the other ways in which we can bring pressure on the regime in Pyongyang to re-engage with us.’

Hwang Kyo-ahn, the acting president of South Korea, has also called for security agencies and international regimes to remain vigilant after North Korea launched a missile into the sea last week.

[American Patriot]

http://dailycaller.com/2017/04/24/so...ean-artillery/

WORLD

Artillery pieces are seen being fired during a military drill at an unknown location, in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on March 25, 2016. REUTERS/KCNA/File
South Korea’s Got A New Weapon Against North Korean Artillery

RYAN PICKRELL
China/Asia Pacific Reporter





9:22 AM 04/24/2017



South Korea has developed a new radar system to detect North Korean artillery units, an immediate and ever-present threat.
While North Korea’s ballistic missile and nuclear programs receive the most attention, North Korean artillery poses a serious threat to South Korea. The North is said to have one of the world’s largest artillery forces, and most of theartillery pieces — of which there are thousands — are already in position, entrenched and camouflaged. Some observers suspect that in the event of a conflict, North Korea could destroy Seoul in less than two hours.
Some estimates suggest that the Korean People’s Army could hit Seoul with at least 500,000 shells in less than an hour. The U.S. and its allies could destroy the North’s artillery units eventually, but not before the destruction of South Korea’s capital. The damage could be even worse if the North Koreans decided to use chemical rounds.
South Korea appears to have found a new defensive tool to protect its cities from North Korean artillery.
The South’s new radar system can detect North Korean artillery units over 40 miles away. The South Korean military presently has a number of ARTHUR (Artillery Hunting Radar) units with ranges around 25 miles, South Korea’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration revealed in a statement,according to Yonhap News Agency. The radar can also run for eight hours straight, about two hours longer than its Swedish predecessor.
The 170 mm Koksan has a range of about 25 miles with conventional shells, but with rocket-assisted shells, the range can be extended to just under 40 miles, putting Seoul — located just 35 miles from the border, within firing range.
The new radar system cost $47.7 million and took six years to develop. It is expected to be operational by 2018, at which point it will be used to track howitzer, mortar, and rocket artillery units.
“With the successful development of the counter-battery radar, our military has laid the groundwork for destroying the origin of the enemy’s provocations, if carried out, in the early stage of combat, through immediate counter-fire,” Army Colonel Kim Dong-ho, a senior DAPA official, told reporters.
The new system is assessed to be “fit for combat use,” DAPA said in a statement.
Follow Ryan on Twitter
Send tips to ryan@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.
Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2017/04/24/so...#ixzz4fAukczW6

[American Patriot]

http://nationalinterest.org/feature/...uld-fear-14825

5 North Korean Weapons South Korea Should Fear


Thermonuclear or not, Pyongyang poses a substantial threat to the region.

Dave Majumdar
January 6, 2016


With the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) claiming to test a thermonuclear weapon earlier this week, tensions are ratcheting up on the Korean peninsula.
Though the Korean War ended in 1953 with a truce, North and South Korea are still technically at war. Tensions periodically flare up because of Pyongyang’s ceaseless saber rattling and provocations—which have even included limited scale military attacks. But the Korean Armistice Agreement has, nonetheless, held firm over the past years because of Seoul’s restraint.
In recent years, it has become apparent, however, that the Republic of Korea—with its vibrant and developed economy—can more than handle the North if it came to a conventional military conflict. The North’s forces are mostly comprised of decrepit Soviet hardware from the 1950s and ‘60s. While South Korea enjoys a clear military superiority, there remains the worrying caveat that its capital Seoul—within the range of the North’s massed artillery—would likely be devastated during such a conflict.
Thus, Pyongyang sees its nuclear arsenal as the guarantor of regime survival—especially after rebels backed by Western air power deposed Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who had given up his nuclear program. Despite its antiquated military forces, the DPRK does posses some weapons that South Korea should fear—not counting its nuclear arsenal.
Here are a few examples.

Artillery
While North Korea’s massive forces are largely primitively equipped, Pyongyang possesses the capacity to launch a catastrophic artillery strike on the city of Seoul.
Most of the artillery pieces—numbering in the thousands—are already in place, camouflaged and dug in. Neither the U.S. military nor South Korean forces can hope to eliminate those weapons before they obliterate the city—which by some estimates would take less than two hours. By some estimates, the city could be hit by over half-a-million shells in under an hour.
North Korea’s artillery pieces include the 170 mm Koksan, which has a range of about 25 miles, using conventional projectiles. However, the city is well within range if the Korean People’s Army rocket-assisted shells—which have a range of just less than forty miles.
U.S. and ROK forces could eventually eliminate these artillery pieces, but damage would already been done—especially if the North Korean regime decided to use chemical rounds.

Chemical Weapons
North Korea has a massive stockpile of chemical weapons—much of which can be used in conjunction with its artillery forces. But the poisons—which Pyongyang can produce domestically—can also be delivered by air or ballistic missile.
According to the Nuclear Threat Initiative:

“North Korea may possess between 2,500 tons and 5,000 tons of CW agents. The South Korean government assesses that North Korea is able to produce most types of chemical weapons indigenously, although it must import some precursors to produce nerve agents, which it has done in the past. At maximum capacity, North Korea is estimated to be capable of producing up to 12,000 tons of CW. Nerve agents such as sarin and VX are thought be to be the focus of North Korean production.”

Nonetheless, North Korea’s weak economy and isolation hampers its production of such weapons.

Special Operations Forces
North Korea invests heavily in special operations forces to offset its conventional weakness. In 2010 it reported that the Korean People’s Army had 200,000-odd special operations forces tasked to carry out attacks on major South Korean and American facilities in South Korea, as well as assassinations of government officials. The commandos would infiltrate the South by using underground tunnels, mini-subs and Russian Antonov An-2 biplanes during a war.

Cyber Attacks
North Korea’s military has cyberwarfare capability—which the country needs as an asymmetric means to offset its many conventional weaknesses. But little is known about Pyongyang’s capabilities except that they have launched several attacks in past several years.
Their full capabilities are not well known, but North Korea is not likely to be as adept at cyber warfare as Russia and China—nonetheless, it could be a formidable capability. It does not take much to cripple a country’s utilities or even disrupt command and control networks even with amateurish attacks—if the defender has not taken proper defensive measures.

Ballistic Missiles
North Korea has a fairly significant ballistic missile capability—which it developed with Russian and Chinese help. Some estimates show that North Korea has over 600 short-range Scud missiles, more than 200 Nodong missiles, and about fifty Musudan and Taepodong missiles. These weapons could be used to deliver conventional, chemical or even nuclear weapons to targets around the Korean peninsula and beyond.

[American Patriot]

https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/a...ey-re-all-grim

North Korea, All Grim

by Nick Wadhams

April 19, 2017, 12:00 AM EDT April 19, 2017, 7:42 AM EDT

• Seoul could be devastated in Pyongyang’s counterattack
  
• Donald Trump vows that a nuclear North Korea ‘won’t happen’

Play



Mute
Current Time0:07

/

Duration Time1:24

Loaded: 0%

Progress: 0%



Fullscreen
Pence Says All Options Are on the Table With N. Korea




Future of France: Macron and Le Pen Go Head-to-Head
Alibaba's Jack Ma Sees Pain as Internet Disrupts Economy

Pence Says All Options Are on the Table With N. Korea

Three weeks before becoming president, Donald Trump weighed in on the threat of North Korea developing a nuclear warhead capable of reaching the U.S.: “It won’t happen,” he vowed on Twitter.
Now planners are contemplating what a U.S. strike to prevent that development might look like, and the options are grim.
Analysts estimate North Korea may now possess between 10 and 25 nuclear weapons, with launch vehicles, air force jets, troops and artillery scattered across the country, hidden in caves and massed along the border with South Korea. That’s on top of what the U.S. estimates to be one of the world’s largest chemical weapons stockpiles, a biological weapons research program and an active cyberwarfare capability.
And with Seoul and its 10 million residents just 35 miles (56 kilometers) south of the border -- well within North Korea’s artillery range -- any eruption of hostilities could have devastating human and economic costs. That’s why the North Korean dynasty founded by Kim Il Sung has long hinged its survival, in part, on a warning that any attack could provoke all-out war.
“Unless you were in a crisis situation where we thought the North Koreans were getting ready to attack us, a preemptive strike against the North Korean nuclear and missile program is simply not a practical option,” said Gary Samore, a former White House coordinator for weapons of mass destruction, proliferation and terrorism, who’s now at Harvard University’s Belfer Center. “This has always been the problem for the U.S. and our allies.”
QuickTakeNorth Korea's Nukes
For a QuickTake on North Korea’s nuclear ambitions, click here
After Trump ramped up his rhetoric against North Korea this month, the Pentagon ordered the USS Carl Vinson to head toward Korean waters, where the aircraft carrier is expected to arrive next week after some initial confusion in the administration on when it would go. Trump has warned that if China -- North Korea’s closest ally -- can’t help rein in the regime, the U.S. and its allies will.

The aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson.

Photographer: Sean M. Castellano/U.S. Navy via Getty Images

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, who is meeting with allies in Asia this week, said in aninterview with CNN airing Wednesday that he doesn’t see the possibility of direct talks between the U.S. and North Korea “at this time.” He also declined to comment on whether or not U.S. sabotage was behind the failure of North Korea’s latest missile test.
Among the war-game scenarios at the Pentagon’s disposal are an airstrike using precision-guided munitions, launched from submarines or stealth aircraft, against the Yongbyon nuclear reactor facility, where North Korea has produced plutonium for its bombs. That was an option weighed as far back as the Clinton administration, according to two former Pentagon chiefs.
“We were highly confident that it could be destroyed without causing a meltdown that would release radioactivity into the air,” Ash Carter and William Perry wrote in a report for the Belfer Center back in 2002. That plan was seen as a worst-case scenario.
Stealth Bombers

Another option would be an attack on facilities at Punggye-ri, the mountainous site in the northeastern part of the country where previous underground nuclear tests have been conducted. 38 North, a website that focuses on North Korea, said satellite images signal recent activity in preparation for another nuclear test. Evading radar, B-2 bombers built by Northrop Grumman Corp. could drop “bunker buster” bombs to try to do the most underground damage.

A satellite image of the Punggye-ri nuclear test site on April 2.

Photographer: DigitalGlobe/38 North via Getty Images

Or, if the U.S. learned that North Korea was preparing to test an intercontinental ballistic missile -- and it had confidence in where that missile would be launched -- it could take out the vehicle, or try to shoot it down.
That probably wouldn’t save Seoul from devastation if North Korea responded to such a strike with a barrage of artillery or shorter-range missiles. In its defense, South Korea would go after the artillery that North Korea has massed near the demilitarized zone and use its Patriot missiles and anti-missile ships. In its final months, the Obama administration agreed to deploy a missile defense system known as Thaad to South Korea, but that shield isn’t fully installed yet.
The decision to attack isn’t Trump’s alone. Because South Korea would bear the brunt of any North Korean response, the highest levels of the South Korean military and government would “all have a say in making momentous decisions” like “do we or do we not go to war,” said Bill McKinney, a retired Army colonel who spent more than 40 years involved in U.S.-Korea military relations and planning.
Read more about how Asian allies are cool to Trump’s talk of attacking
Any unilateral military action by the U.S. would threaten deep damage to its alliance with Japan, which also would be put at risk, and could bring China and the U.S. into conflict.
‘A Crapshoot’

Yet the overarching challenge in an attack on North Korea continues to be gauging the regime’s response. While the U.S. military might want to do something that sends a message but doesn’t start another Korean War, Pyongyang remains strategically unpredictable. Outside analysts have to scour satellite imagery, state-run media, official regime photos and interviews with defectors to glean the barest clues about life and politics in the “hermit kingdom.”
“Our ability to see into North Korea is so curtailed that we don’t have the ability to make well-reasoned judgments about what’s going on,” McKinney, the retired Army colonel, said in an interview. The U.S.’s ability to know what weaponry is even in North Korea and where it is located “is always a bit of a crapshoot,” he said.
North Korea’s unpredictability has only increased under Kim Jong Un, grandson of founder Kim Il Sung, who has had family members and top military aides killed for real or perceived slights. Even a smaller U.S. strike, like the volley of cruise missiles Trump fired at Syria this month, might generate a response that’s far from proportional.

Kim Jong-un

Photographer: Ed Jones/AFP via Getty Images

Casualty Estimates

“Some might say, ‘Look, you know they can’t respond because they’re fearful of the consequences,”’ said Bruce Klingner, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation. But Kim’s regime could also say, “‘Well guys, game on.’ You can’t guarantee what North Korea will do.”
Klingner was the Central Intelligence Agency’s deputy division chief for Korea from 1996-2001, after President Bill Clinton also considered strikes when North Korea was found to have been developing a nuclear capability. He said contingency scenarios at the time included estimates of hundreds of thousands of casualties, “and that was before they had nuclear weapons.”
The situation facing the U.S. grows more dire as North Korea moves toward its goal of developing an intercontinental ballistic missile with a nuclear warhead that could hit the U.S. mainland. But in weighing possible responses, the administration must also decide how urgent that threat really is.
North Korea will need until at least 2020 to develop a nuclear weapon with that reach, according to John Schilling, a satellite specialist with the Aerospace Corp. The country still hasn’t tested an ICBM, though it does have about 1,000 ballistic missiles, Schilling said.
No ‘Imminent Crisis’

“This isn’t an imminent crisis,” Schilling told reporters Tuesday in a briefing organized by 38 North. “The imminent threat is to South Korea and Japan.”
But Schilling referred to the regime’s unpredictability, saying, “Probably their first response will not be nuclear -- it might not even involve missiles,” Schilling said. “They have several levels of escalation to go before they get to nuclear weapons.”
In taking on North Korea so directly, Trump confronts a problem that bedeviled his predecessors from both political parties. Six-nation talks, direct bilateral negotiations, food aid and United Nations sanctions have all failed to deter the Kim dynasty. Even China, Pyongyang’s ally, has been snubbed by the Kim regime repeatedly over the years.
The debate over possible U.S. military responses predates anyone in the federal government today. President Richard Nixon considered tactical nuclear strikes after North Korea shot down a U.S. reconnaissance plane in 1969, according to documents declassified in 2010 and published by the National Security Archive.
War Games

“Nixon and his advisers were forced to heed the Pentagon’s warnings that anything short of massive attacks on North Korea’s military power would risk igniting a wider conflagration on the peninsula, leaving diplomacy, with all its frustrations, as the remaining option,” Robert Wampler at the National Security Archive wrote at the time.
More than 30 years after Nixon, The Atlantic magazine ran a war-gaming scenario, assembling experts to come up with what a U.S. response would look like. Run by retired Air Force Colonel Sam Gardiner, the exercise ultimately ended in discord, with little agreement aside from the consensus that the North Korean problem would only grow worse over time.
Gardiner says events now have born that out. The Trump administration, like those before it, appears to have no clear objective for North Korea, Gardiner says, whether it’s regime change, preventing Pyongyang from getting a nuclear weapon or something else. And he says most options for action could result in all-out war or, short of that, spur the regime to perfect the nuclear weapons it so desperately wants -- and which Trump says he won’t let it get.
“In essence, there is no military option,” Gardiner said. Asked what plan of action he would present to Trump if forced to pick one, he responded: “I would resign first.”

[Ryan Ruck]

I missed the news of this...

U.S. Marines Arrive In Darwin For Australia, China Exercises

April 18, 2017

U.S. Marines began arriving in Australia's tropical north on Tuesday for a six-month deployment during which they will conduct exercises with Australian and visiting Chinese forces.

The 25-year annual deployment programme started by former U.S. President Barack Obama in 2011 is part of the U.S. "pivot" to Asia at a time of increased assertiveness by China.

"I think that the commitment that we've taken to put a task force here with a conversation to get larger over the years says that we do think this is an important region," said Marines' commander Lieutenant Colonel Brian Middleton after the first troops arrived in Darwin in the Northern Territory.

"Being close to Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean, the Indo Pacific position has always been important."

Middleton said the marines would conduct an "important exercise alongside our Chinese partners" and Australia.

The strength of this year's deployment at 1,250 troops lags well behind the initial plan for the deployment to reach 2,500 Marines this year, but it will see the largest U.S. aircraft contingent to Australia in peacetime history.

Middleton said the 13 aircraft, including tilt-rotor Ospreys, Super Cobra helicopters and Huey helicopters, triple the four aircraft in past deployments, was a "tangible kind of sign of our commitment to the region and to this partnership".

He said the decision to send the aircraft pre-dated the recent escalation in tensions over North Korea.

"Regardless, I think it is just a good move any time we can strengthen the long standing partnership and alliance between our two countries. We stand ready to fight and win the night always."

U.S. President Donald Trump has ordered the USS Carl Vinson carrier strike group to sail to near the Korean peninsula as a show of force aimed at deterring North Korea from conducting more missiles tests. Pyongyang launched a failed missile test on Sunday and has warned Washington against taking military action against North Korea.

The Australia-US-China military exercises are also aimed at Australia charting a course between its most important security ally the United States and its biggest trading partner China.

Australia has drawn rebukes from both superpowers as it tries to strike a balanced stance on the disputed South China Sea, with China criticising Australian freedom-of-navigation flights in the area and a senior U.S. soldier calling on Australia to do more there.

[Ryan Ruck]

Entire Senate Being Called To White House For North Korea Briefing

April 24, 2017

The entire U.S. Senate has been invited to the White House for a briefing Wednesday on the North Korea situation, amid escalating tensions over the country’s missile tests and bellicose rhetoric.

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer confirmed the upcoming briefing, for all 100 senators, on Monday.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats plan to provide the update to lawmakers.

It is rare for the entire Senate to be invited to such a briefing.

Spicer clarified that while the event will take place on the White House campus, it is technically a Senate briefing and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is the one who convened it.

The briefing, first reported by Reuters, was confirmed after President Trump earlier spoke to the leaders of both China and Japan.

Trump spoke by phone with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe

Xi told Trump that China strongly opposed North Korea’s nuclear weapons program and hoped “all parties will exercise restraint and avoid aggravating the situation,” according to Chinese broadcaster CCTV. Trump hopes China could increase pressure on its isolated ally instead of using military options or trying to overthrow Kim Jong Un’s regime.

Trump and Abe agreed to urge North Korea to refrain from provocative actions.

Meanwhile, U.S. commercial satellite images indicated increased activity around North Korea’s nuclear test site, while Kim has said that the country’s preparation for an ICBM launch is in its “final stage.”

South Korea’s Defense Ministry has said the North appears ready to conduct such "strategic provocations" at any time. South Korean Acting Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn has instructed his military to strengthen its "immediate response posture" in case North Korea does something significant on the April 25 anniversary of its military. North Korea often marks significant dates by displaying military capability.

On Monday, Trump also had lunch with ambassadors of countries on the U.N. Security Council. Ahead of the meeting, Trump called for “big reforms” at the U.N. and criticizing its handling of recent events in Syria and North Korea – but said it has “tremendous potential.”

"You just don't see the United Nations, like, solving conflicts. I think that's going to start happening now," he said.

[vector7]

Steve Herman‏ @W7VOA
#China now views #DPRK as a threat to its interest and security, "that's a big shift," says sr. administration official.

Steve Herman‏ @W7VOA
“This situation is not risk free,” says senior administration official, noting a systematic approach being taken to analyze based on intel.

Steve Herman‏ @W7VOA
Senators being informed of strategy and approach by US to “remove this threat” from #DPRK, adds senior administration official.

Steve Herman‏ @W7VOA
Timeline for further actions "event driven" and also depend on partners pressuring #DPRK, adds the official.

Steve Herman‏ @W7VOA
#DPRK "poses a grave threat to our partners and everyone in the region..and a potential threat to the US homeland,” says sr. admin. official

[Ryan Ruck]

If North Korea Launches Nukes, Washington State Is Not Allowed To Have Evacuation Plan

April 27, 2017

Despite the constant threats and missile tests coming out of North Korea, emergency management officials in Washington state say they are prevented from forming an evacuation plan in the event of a nuclear attack.

"State law does not allow any advanced planning," said Karina Shagren with the Washington State Emergency Management Division.

RCW 38.52.030, passed in 1983, says "The comprehensive, all-hazard emergency plan authorized under this subsection may not include preparation for emergency evacuation or relocation of residents in anticipation of nuclear attack.”

Retired General Barry McCaffrey, who has been outspoken about the need to pay serious attention to North Korea, calls the law "goofy."

"Certainly it’s a goofy thing to not tell people to think about a major real threat," he said. "What we're trying to achieve is deterrence, which means ballistic missile defense."

FEMA has released a comprehensive guide to the nuclear threat, and the state's Emergency Management Plan covers all sorts of disasters.

The author of the state law preventing a nuclear attack plan, former Democratic state lawmaker Dick Nelson, says at the time, Washington state was inundated with nuclear threats, and the idea was to create an example of peace.

"It was about finding a middle ground we could all agree on," he said.

Nelson also felt that if Seattle were to be attacked, the chances of survival would be so low that a preparation plan would have been moot anyway.

Today, Nelson still says he has no regrets.

"I haven't abandoned my basic belief that we need to find peaceful ways of dealing with the nuclear threat," he said. "But I also believe we have a crazy dictator who could do anything."

[Ryan Ruck]

Japan Warns Citizens They Might Have Only 10 Minutes To Prepare For A North Korean Missile

April 25, 2017

North Korea might be talking about building missiles that can reach the United States, but Kim Jong Un’s regime already has lots of missiles that can reach Japan. So the Japanese government is preparing its citizens in case a missile comes their way — possibly with less than 10 minutes’ warning.

The prime minister’s office issued new “actions to protect yourself” guidelines this week, including for the first time instructions on how to respond if a North Korean ballistic missile is heading toward Japan.

Three of the four missiles that North Korea launched March 6 fell within Japan’s exclusive economic zone in the Sea of Japan, the body of water that separates Japan and the Korean Peninsula. North Korea later said that it was practicing to hit U.S. military bases in Japan.

North Korea showed almost two decades ago that it has all of Japan in its reach. In 1998, North Korea fired a Taepodong-1 missile — ostensibly for launching a satellite — over Japan and into its economic zone on the Pacific Ocean side.

The Japanese government’s advice isn’t exactly helpful, amounting to basically: You won’t get the warning in time, but if you do, then go to a strong building.

This is the Japanese government's advice for what to do if a North Korean missile is coming straight at you https://t.co/2YpgLsLmji pic.twitter.com/7dmYDHpnCl

— Anna Fifield (@annafifield) April 25, 2017

As North Korea has issued threats and paraded missiles this month, Japan’s official civil defense website has had 5.7 million visitors in the first 23 days of April — compared with usual monthly traffic of less than 400,000 hits.

Under the "frequently asked questions" section, the government poses the question of how many minutes it would take for a missile to reach Japan.

“When a missile is launched from North Korea, it will not take long to reach Japan,” the answer reads. “For example, the ballistic missile launched from [North Korea] on February 7 last year took 10 minutes to fly over Okinawa.”

The central government has also been holding meetings to instruct local governments what they should do if a North Korean missile hits their region.

This meeting was unprecedented in post-war Japan, the Asahi Shimbun newspaper reported, marking the first time the Japanese government has taken steps to instruct residents on how to prepare for enemy attacks.

In Yamagata prefecture, which extends to the Sea of Japan, plans are underway to conduct an evacuation drill as soon as possible.

In Akita prefecture to the north, Gov. Norihisa Satake instructed his disaster management department to stay on alert around the clock this month.

To the south, in Fukui, the local government will have its staff stay on alert overnight Tuesday, in case of any provocations linked to the anniversary of the founding of North Korea’s army.

In “Actions and Other Measures In Case of Falling of Ballistic Missile” posted on its website last week, Fukui’s prefectural government told citizens to “evacuate to a substantial building or underground shopping area” if they were outside, and to lie down under cover and away from windows if inside.

Japan has a system called “J-Alert” designed to broadcast information about an imminent missile attack to disaster management officials at the local level. Here’s how The Japan Times described the system:

From there, local governments will relay warnings via outdoor loudspeaker systems, emergency broadcast channels on cable TV, FM radio broadcasts and cellphone alerts.

If you are outside when a warning is sounded or received, the government’s advice is to proceed calmly to the strongest concrete building you can quickly get to, or to go underground, if possible. Families in their homes are advised to stay low to the floor, take cover underneath tables and to stay away from glass windows.

But Osaka Mayor Hirofumi Yoshimura said that there would be almost no time to respond to a North Korean missile.

“A missile may not be detected as soon as it leaves the launch pad ... and that could take several minutes,” he said, according to the Japan Times report. “Depending on the case, the warnings and alarms might only sound four or five minutes before a missile arrives."


Meanwhile, sales of nuclear shelters and radiation-blocking air purifiers have surged in Japan, Reuters reported. A small company that specializes in building nuclear shelters, generally under people’s houses, has received eight orders in April alone compared with six orders during a typical year.

Increased efforts to make contingency plans in response to growing public concern will also likely accelerate a push by the government and the ruling Liberal Democratic Party for an upgraded ballistic missile defense system for the nation, the Asahi Shimbun wrote.

An influential group of politicians is publicly arguing for technically pacifist Japan to acquire the ability to strike North Korea instead of having to rely on the United States for its defense, and has submitted a recommendation to the government to this effect.

[vector7]

North Korea 'tests ballistic missile' amid reports Pyongyang stating war 'imminent'

An undated file photo made available by the North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the state news agency of North Korea, on 07 March 2017, shows four projectiles during a ballistic rocket launching drill of Hwasong artillery units of the Strategic Force of the Korean People's Army (KPA) at an undisclosed location Credit: KCNA

• Barney Henderson, New York

29 April 2017 • 12:51am

• North Korea test-fires ballistic missile
• Trump says North Korea 'disrespected the wishes of China'
• Reports Pyongyang saying war 'imminent'
• North Korea: attempts to get rid of nuclear weapons 'wild dream'

North Korea test-fired a ballistic missile in the early hours of Saturday morning, reports in South Korea said, amid rising military tensions with the US.

The missile, launched from a region north of the capital, Pyongyang, appeared to have blown up a few seconds into flight, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said.

US officials said the missile did not leave North Korean territory and was probably a medium-range missile known as a KN-17.

This undated picture released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on April 26, 2017 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un Credit: AFP

It was the second failed test of a ballistic missile this month and came amid a flurry of rhetoric from North Korea warning of "imminent" war against the US.

"North Korea fired an unidentified missile from a site in the vicinity of Bukchang in Pyeongannam-do (South Pyeongan Province) early this morning," Yonhap reported, quoting a statement issued by South Korea's military. "It is estimated to have failed."

Donald Trump, the US president, said that North Korea "disrespected the wishes of China" with the missile test.

North Korea disrespected the wishes of China & its highly respected President when it launched, though unsuccessfully, a missile today. Bad!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 28, 2017

On Friday, Rex Tillerson, the US secretary of state, warned that failure to curb North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programmes could lead to "catastrophic consequences".

He called for a greater enforcement of UN sanctions against North Korea and requested the help of the rest of the world in pressuring North Korea to step back from its military threats.

China said it was not only up to Beijing to solve the North Korean problem.

"The key to solving the nuclear issue on the peninsula does not lie in the hands of the Chinese side," Wang Yi, the Chinese foreign minister said.



This image made from video of a still image broadcast in a news bulletin by North Korea's KRT on Wednesday, April 26, 2017, shows what was said to be a "Combined Fire Demonstration" held to celebrate the 85th anniversary of the North Korean army, in Wonsan, North Korea Credit: KRT via AP Video

North Korea's deputy UN ambassador responded by stating US efforts to get rid of his country's nuclear weapons through military threats and sanctions were "a wild dream".

Mr Trump told Reuters in an interview on Thursday that a "major, major conflict" with North Korea was possible over its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.



An undated photograph released by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on 26 April 2017 shows the combined fire demonstration of the services of the Korean People's Army in celebration of its 85th founding anniversary, at an undisclosed location in North Korea Credit: KCNA

The top US military commander in the Pacific warned earlier this week that North Korea could strike American soil.
"I don't share your confidence that North Korea is not going to attack either South Korea, or Japan, or the United States ... once they have the capability," Admiral Harry Harris, who heads the US Pacific Command, told Congress.

He was defending the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) missile defence system by the US in South Korea.

The move was “in response to North Korea’s advancing nuclear and missile threat”, a US military statement said, amid concerns that Pyongyang was planning its sixth nuclear test since 2006.



A military drill marking the 85th anniversary of the establishment of the Korean People's Army (KPA) is seen in this handout photo by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency Credit: KCNA

12:51AM Japan protests North Korea's latest missile test

Japan has protested the latest missile launch by North Korea.

Japanese government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said the ballistic missile firing would be "a clear violation of UN security council resolutions."

He added that Japan "cannot accept repeated provocation by North Korea" and had "lodged a strong protest against North Korea."

Japan has become increasingly concerned in recent weeks about the possibility of a North Korean missile attack targeting Japan or US forces stationed in Japan.


12:37AM Trump: North Korea 'disrespected China'

Donald Trump has said that North Korea "disrespected the wishes of China" with the missile test.


11:46PM Ballistic missile did not leave N.Korean territory -U.S. military

The US military has said it tracked the ballistic missile launch but the missile did not leave North Korean territory and did not pose a threat to North America.

Commander Dave Benham, a spokesman for US Pacific Command, said the missile launch took place at 10:33 a.m. Hawaii time (2033 GMT) from near the Pukchang airfield.

US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the missile was probably a medium-range missile known as a KN-17 and appears to have broken up within minutes of taking off.


'Fiery destruction of the White House'

North Korea video promises fiery destruction for the White House 02:25

11:42PM North Korea's nuclear history

US official says North Korean test was likely of a medium-range ballistic missile

US official says North Korean test was likely of a medium-range ballistic missile; it broke up minutes after launch, AP reports.

Missile test 'appears to have failed'

Yonhap news agency said the missile appeared to have blown up a few seconds into flight.

US President Donald Trump told Reuters in an interview on Thursday a "major, major conflict" with North Korea was possible over its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.

Trump praised Chinese leader Xi Jinping for "trying very hard" to rein in Pyongyang.

10:29PM 'Unidentified missile' fired by North Korea

"North Korea fired an unidentified missile from a site in the vicinity of Bukchang in Pyeongannam-do (South Pyeongan Province) early this morning," Yonhap reported, quoting a statement issued by South Korea's military.

10:23PM 'We have to bring Kim Jong-un to the negotiating table'

Mark Warner, a Democrat senator and vice chairman of the intelligence committee, has told CNN;
“This is where we have got when we have two bellicose, belligerent leaders, both ratcheting up the rhetoric. I believe Japan, South Korea and the allies have to stand up strong. We have to bring Kim Jong-un to the negotiating table, not to his knees."

10:21PM 'Catastrophic consequences'

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warned earlier on Friday that failure to curb North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programs could lead to 'catastrophic consequences,' while China and Russia rebuked Washington's threat of military force, Reuters reports.

The showdown in a meeting of the UN Security Council on North Korea highlighted the diplomatic challenges of resolving tensions over Pyongyang, with the Trump administration aggressively pressing Beijing to rein in its ally, and China and Russia pushing back against Washington's rhetoric.

Rex Tillerson: US looking to China for help with North Korea 00:54

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told the 15-member council it was not only up to China to solve the North Korean problem.

"The key to solving the nuclear issue on the peninsula does not lie in the hands of the Chinese side," Wang told the council in blunt remarks that Tillerson later rebuffed.

10:18PM North Korea test fires ballistic missile, according to reports

Hello and welcome to our live coverage as North Korea test-fires a ballistic missile from a region north of its capital, Pyongyang, Yonhap news agency reported citing South Korea's military.

There were no immediate details about the missile or its flight, Yonhap said.

[American Patriot]

Any word on this?

Entire Senate Being Called To White House For North Korea Briefing

April 24, 2017

The entire U.S. Senate has been invited to the White House for a briefing Wednesday on the North Korea situation, amid escalating tensions over the country’s missile tests and bellicose rhetoric.

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer confirmed the upcoming briefing, for all 100 senators, on Monday.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats plan to provide the update to lawmakers.

It is rare for the entire Senate to be invited to such a briefing.

Spicer clarified that while the event will take place on the White House campus, it is technically a Senate briefing and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is the one who convened it.

The briefing, first reported by Reuters, was confirmed after President Trump earlier spoke to the leaders of both China and Japan.

Trump spoke by phone with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe

Xi told Trump that China strongly opposed North Korea’s nuclear weapons program and hoped “all parties will exercise restraint and avoid aggravating the situation,” according to Chinese broadcaster CCTV. Trump hopes China could increase pressure on its isolated ally instead of using military options or trying to overthrow Kim Jong Un’s regime.

Trump and Abe agreed to urge North Korea to refrain from provocative actions.

Meanwhile, U.S. commercial satellite images indicated increased activity around North Korea’s nuclear test site, while Kim has said that the country’s preparation for an ICBM launch is in its “final stage.”

South Korea’s Defense Ministry has said the North appears ready to conduct such "strategic provocations" at any time. South Korean Acting Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn has instructed his military to strengthen its "immediate response posture" in case North Korea does something significant on the April 25 anniversary of its military. North Korea often marks significant dates by displaying military capability.

On Monday, Trump also had lunch with ambassadors of countries on the U.N. Security Council. Ahead of the meeting, Trump called for “big reforms” at the U.N. and criticizing its handling of recent events in Syria and North Korea – but said it has “tremendous potential.”

"You just don't see the United Nations, like, solving conflicts. I think that's going to start happening now," he said.